An economic and political alliance of the Bric nations — Brazil, Russia, India and China — was held in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. The summit of the foreign ministers was noted for its political overtones.

The BRIC nations constitute nearly half of the world’s population and more than 26 percent of the world economy. It was Jim O’Neill, a Goldman Sachs analyst, who coined the term “Bric” to denote the vast economic potential of the four emerging markets. It was evident a spirit of togetherness is consolidating within the BRIC club whose meetings were mooted by then Russian President Vladimir Putin in the sidelines of the UN General Assembly 2006.

For the Kremlin, it was certainly a political achievement in having convened a high-profile gathering of four nations commanding vast resources but varied interests. Some observers even see a response from Russia to the US efforts dominate the G8 club of industrialised nations.

A spokesman for Russia’s foreign ministry said: “Bric unites the major economic growth centres with more than half the world’s population, the role of which in international affairs will grow.”

There were voices in the US that wanted Russia’s seat in G8 be offered to Brazil or India. Says an analyst: “What is interesting is that the Russians are showing that political clubs can be formed with or without the participation of the United States.”

Kosovo Issue

In the summit, geopolitics certainly topped the agenda as China and India’s foreign ministers joined Russia in calling for fresh talks between Serbia and Kosovo. Interestingly, both Europe and the US recognised Kosovo’s declaration of Independence in February, but Russia was consistently opposed to any split from Serbia. The Summit appeared to have helped in finding common cause with India and China, nations battling some separatist movements.

The Bric foreign ministers used to hold meetings on the sidelines of UN conferences, but the Yekaterinburg gathering was the first formal independent meeting.

Brazil and India are using their economic clout to wield political influence, notably in bodies such as the World Trade Organisation, in which the two often lead negotiations with the US and the EU.

Addition of Brazil into the India-Russia-China troika has certainly added more seriousness, credentials and power to the club, which seems to be directly challenging the dominance of NATO and US in the international spectrum.

India will host the next stand-alone meetings of the Foreign Ministers of RIC and BRIC groupings in 2009. India’s foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee held meetings in the city nestled in the Ural Mountains with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

UN Reforms

The Foreign Ministers urged for reforming the United Nations to make it more efficient to deal with the emerging global challenges. The Ministers reaffirmed the need for comprehensive reforms.

The ministers emphasised the implementation of U.N. Global Counter Terrorism Strategy, which aims at strengthening the role of the United Nations in combating terrorism and to ensure the respect of human rights while countering terrorism. Calling for strengthening of multilateralism, the ministers reiterated that today’s work order should be based on the rule of international law.

The BRIC meeting assumes importance in view of the fact that a Goldman Sachs analysis presaging a fundamental shift in the global balance of power, with the four countries together having a greater economic weight than the traditional industrial powers of the Group of Seven by the year 2032, just two decades hence.

Collective Clout vs Bilateral Bickerings

The Russian foreign ministry spokesman observed at the sidelines of the meeting, “BRIC unites the major economic growth centres with more than half the world’s population, the role of which in international affairs will grow.”

In all probability, its political clout would likely grow further. The meeting called for a fresh opening of talks between Belgrade and Pristina to moderate the violent situation in the Balkans. Similarly, on the Iran issue these countries called for international mediation to find a middle ground, instead of using any kind of coercion.

Goldman Sachs had predicted that by the year 2035, the combined economy of BRIC countries would surpass the economy of the most prosperous group of G-7 (except Russia). The combined population of these four countries especially that of India and China, surpasses for more than half of the world’s population, with a huge and fast growing consumer market. The combined GDP of these four countries is about US$15.5 trillion. China has a foreign exchange reserve of more than US$1.5 trillion, Russia has foreign exchange reserve of about US$500 billion, India has about US$300 billion and Brazil around US$200 billion. According to IMF in 2007 the combined GDP of these four countries made up 12 percent of the global GDP. In the past two years stocks in these countries have risen 70 percent and markets have grown at the rate of 42 percent.

All these four countries can work together to meet each other’s requirements. Russia has the largest reserves of natural gas and second largest reserves of oil. On the other hand, India and China are energy hungry countries. Hence, in this background, it is but naturally possible when India and China can fill the consumer market voids in Russia and Brazil, Russia and Brazil can meet energy and raw material needs of the two countries. India’s high IT skills and manpower and Chinese massive production of goods can complement the Russian and Brazilian economy.

International issues like the Kosovo crisis, NATO’s movement towards the East, especially its recent movement to woo Ukraine and Georgia, the Iran issue, etc. can be evaluated on a collective basis. While Russia and China are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, India has strong clout among the third world countries.

It is inevitable that the collective political will of these four powers can checkmate any unilateral actions in contravention of the UN Charter. Fourth, these countries can work together to tackle international menaces such as drug trafficking, terrorism, and formulate common stand on issues such as environment, climate change, ozone depletion issue, weapon non-proliferation, food and energy security, etc.

All these countries have suffered from the menace of terrorism. Whether it is Kashmir in India, Chechnya in Russia, or Xinjiang in China.

The BRIC is in its infancy. The most pertinent question that needs to be asked is how far this nascent body succeeds in making the collective dream a practical reality.

For that observers feel that these countries would have to rise above bilateral rivalries in order to play a more responsible and responsive role. Whether it is India’s border issue with China, or China’s perceived encirclement of India through Karakoram or through the Indian ocean; or the Chinese-Russian rivalry and the issue of Chinese mass migration to southern Siberia etc need to be looked at from a broader perspective.

The next BRIC meet is scheduled to take place in New Delhi in 2009.